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Legal Aspects of Terrorism

NCJ Number
70462
Author(s)
E G Lapeyre
Date Published
1972
Length
125 pages
Annotation
The implications of terrorism for international law, including definitions of political crimes as compared to the realities of terrorist crimes, are analyzed along with ideological and legal arguments.
Abstract
Political crimes are appropriately defined by teleological motives, whereas no valid ideological reasons can be found for violent terrorist acts, which run counter to all universally accepted moral principles and humanitarian rules of behavior. Under international law, terrorists are susceptible to extradition and are not entitled to diplomatic or political asylum. Published in Uruguay during the Tupamaros terrorist activities (1972), this study examines the legal aspects of terrorism under Uruguayan and international law. Other terrorism-related issues addressed include the history and activities of inernational organizations specializing in terrorism, along with an analysis of their ideological and juridical orientations (e.g., terrorism in the Panamerican system from 1940 to 1970), showing how the legal perception of terrorism evolved and changed with the intensification of the phenomenon. The International Washington Convention of 1971 and various extraordinary sessions of the UN General Assembly focused their debates on the problem of international terrorism. The hijacking of aircraft and other violent acts against international civil aviation are discussed and a number of possible preventive measures to stem the tide of international terrorism, are delineated. Repressive intervention at the national level must begin by denial of political asylum. Finally, 11 appendixes give the texts of international resolutions concerned with the legal aspects of terrorism as they impact international law. --in Spanish.